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Brief History of Copyright Law in the United States
This section of the wiki provides a brief overview of the history of Copyright Law in the United States and the impact changes in Copyright law have had on the nation. According to the Copyright Office of the United States, the Copyright Law of 1976 is the largest restructuring of the United States Copyright since the laws' inception in 1790 (Copyright Law of the United States, n.d.). Most of the United States’ current copyright law is now built around the 1976 restructuring. Before the 1976 Copyright Act, the 1909 act was in use. The 1909 Act allowed an author’s published work to be copyrighted for a total of 56 years (Copyright Timeline, n.d.). The 1976 Act extended the period of copyright to the duration of the Author’s life plus 50 years (Copyright Timeline, n.d.). At this point in history, you can see a shift in the focus of copyright law as well. Originally, copyright law was intended to protect the livelihood of the author. Now, it seems apparent that the copyright law is instead putting the rights of corporate copyright owners first rather than the author, their family, or the public. The copyright law of the United States had been amended and changed many times since then as well. In modern times, the biggest change to copyright law has been the Copyright Term Extension Act. This event changed the current term of copyright to the life of the author plus 70 years (Copyright Timeline, n.d.). As of 2019, the United States has existed for 243 years. J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye was published in 1951(Sachs, 2010). Salinger died in 2010. That is 59 years of copyright for the life of Salinger plus an additional 70 years for the publisher and Salinger’s family. That equates to 129 years of copyright for what is considered a historically and culturally important American novel. The book will not enter the public domain until 2080 (Sachs, 2010). At that point, Salinger’s masterpiece would have been under copyright protection for nearly 43% of America’s history. Another important change in American Copyright is the Digital Media Copyright Act. This has extended the protection of copyright to the internet and the digital world. The law is not without criticism. One part of the law restricts users and makes it a punishable offense to bypass content restrictions on digital media and software (DMCA, n.d.). Put into simpler terms, the law made it illegal to bypass DRM. This has been severely questioned and criticized by groups such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation (DMCA, n.d.). The law seems to protect large corporate interests while putting consumers and citizens under the mercy of the laws questionable enforcement. The philosophy and interests of the DMCA is in direct conflict with the goals of fair use. Works Cited Copyright Law of the United States. (n.d.). Retrieved June 29, 2019, from https://www.copyright.gov/title17/ Copyright Timeline: A History of Copyright in the United States. (n.d.). Retrieved June 29, 2019, from https://www.arl.org/copyright-timeline/ DMCA. (n.d.). Retrieved June 29, 2019, from https://www.eff.org/issues/dmca Sachs, A. (2010, January 30). J.D. Salinger: "Keep Your Hands Off My Legacy". Retrieved June 29, 2019, from http://content.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1957865,00.html Digital Resources Further Resouces concerning the History of Copyright can be found here. History of Copyright U.S.A. History of Copyright Timeline Overview of History of Copyright Law Wikipedia